Spatial clustering and space-time clusters of leukemia among children in Germany, 1987-2007.

European Journal of Epidemiology
Sven SchmiedelJoachim Schüz

Abstract

Leukemia is the most frequent malignancy in children under the age of 15 years. The question of whether childhood leukemia has a tendency for clustering or forms clusters has been studied for several decades. The environmental risk factor discussed most often is infection, which might result in spatial clustering and space-time clusters. The German Childhood Cancer Registry provided data on 11,946 children with leukemia diagnosed during 1987-2007, as classified in the International Classification for Childhood Cancer (third edition), aggregated by municipality. We used the Potthoff-Whittinghill model to test for a general trend for clustering and the spatial scan statistic to search for localized clusters. No evidence of global clustering was found, neither for the whole study population nor in sub-groups by age, period or population density, or for different types of leukemia. A similar result was found for localized clusters. The analysis shows no evidence of a tendency to clustering, however, aggregation of data at the municipality level might have diluted small localized clusters. The results of this study do not provide support for the hypothesis of an infectious or a spatial environmental etiology of childhood leukemia.

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Citations

Mar 26, 2011·Cancer Causes & Control : CCC·Sven SchmiedelJoachim Schüz
Dec 12, 2012·Pathology Oncology Research : POR·T A NyariR J Q McNally
Mar 21, 2012·Annual Review of Public Health·Amy H AuchinclossAna V Diez Roux
Dec 10, 2015·International Journal of Cancer. Journal International Du Cancer·Christian KreisUNKNOWN Swiss National Cohort Study Group
Jul 4, 2012·Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology·Sven SchmiedelJoachim Schüz
Mar 1, 2011·Chemico-biological Interactions·Stephen S FrancisJoseph L Wiemels
Oct 11, 2011·Pediatric Hematology and Oncology·Ketan KulkarniRhonda J Rosychuk
Jul 15, 2015·Anales de pediatría : publicación oficial de la Asociación Española de Pediatría (A.E.P.)·J A Ortega-GarcíaJ L Fuster-Soler
Mar 25, 2017·Radiation and Environmental Biophysics·Claudia SpixMaria Blettner
Jun 14, 2017·International Journal of Cancer. Journal International Du Cancer·Garyfallos KonstantinoudisUNKNOWN Swiss Paediatric Oncology Group and the Swiss National Cohort Study Group
Jan 22, 2020·BMC Cancer·Laura Andrea Rodriguez-VillamizarPaula Ramírez-Barbosa
Nov 18, 2018·European Journal of Epidemiology·Christian KreisBen D Spycher
Dec 29, 2020·Cancer Epidemiology·Michael M SchündelnChristian Stock

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